Jacksonville racers fare well at LeMons contest

By Carolyn Alford

Published: Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 03:56 PM.

The judges liked the way the John Galt car looked so the team will write the judges for a residual value on the car which should be $500 since the motor blew up, Gary Potter said. They will return in September to race again.

“Of course, there is no question on that,” said Gary Potter. “We towed it home; now we will see what we need to do to fix it.”

Shepard and team members Billy Taylor, David Shepard Jr., and Tim Stone plan to keep the fire truck theme with the addition of a bubble light on top for the September race. There is a kindred spirit among firemen so many of the firemen at the race came to see the fire truck after reading about it in this newspaper. One of the firemen that came, took Shepard’s address saying that he thinks that he has a bubble light from an old fire truck.

Mike Marshburn said “we are starting to rebuild to get ready for the next race in June. We are planning on a totally new car for the fall CMP race.”

LeMons drivers race for the fun but winning is great fun too. Two teams from Jacksonville brought home accolades from the 24 Hours of LeMons endurance race in Kershaw, S.C. last weekend. Although a Cessna aircraft on a car chassis stole the day, photos of the cars of all three teams were featured in the Car and Driver magazine report on the race.

Grandpa Dave’s fire team, a 1991 S-10 Chevy truck converted to a fire truck, won the Judge’s Choice Award. That’s a pretty big deal said Gary Potter of the John Galt car team because the trophy is given for the vehicle that “most represents LeMon racing, that portrays what LeMon racing is.”

“It put me on a new high,” Dave Shepard said of the team’s award. “I was already feeling great from the opportunity to drive on a professional race track and then to win Judge’s Choice, it was just outstanding.”

The fire truck also finished among the top 10 in its class at the race.

BTB team’s Bosozuku car, a Sentra SE-R, won the Organizer’s Award, an award especially for this race because the car was so impressive. Car and Driver magazine said that the Japanese style Bosozuku was properly executed and would have been respected on the streets of Tokyo.

“Judges’ choice for the fire truck and Organizers’ choice for our Boso car was real cool for two teams from our area to get,” said Mike Marshburn.

Making it to the winner’s circle

If a fun weekend at the event is measured by the amount of wrench turning as the LeMons website says, the weekend was pure fun for the Jacksonville teams.

About three hours into the race, the Fire Truck experienced overheating problems when the water pump failed. The team shut it down and installed a new water pump and radiator and after losing about three hours, resumed the race. The temperature was not getting hot enough so the team installed a new restriction washer which brought the temperature up to 180 degrees. Later that day, the bolts worked loose on the fan blade and it chewed up the Serpentine belt. The truck was shut down again and a trip to Camden, S.C. ensued to purchase a new belt. The team finished the race on Saturday afternoon losing only about three hours of the seven hours racing that day. On Sunday everything ran beautiful with no breakdowns, Shepard said, and the team finished the race, albeit slowly. There were comments about how slow Grandpa’s truck ran but the judges commented on how team member were safe and polite and hugged the right lane so that faster cars could pass them.

“We had a fantastic time,” Shepard said,” everybody is looking forward to going back in September.”

John Galt Motorsport Saga

The hood of the Mustang with the John Galt theme made Car and Driver but the rest of the car did not fare as well. Gary Potter detailed the saga. The team left Jacksonville on Thursday and the tow vehicle broke down before HollyRidge so the team arrived in Kershaw hours behind schedule. The Tech and BS inspection went well. The car qualified as an “A” car with no penalty laps. Friday during “Test and Tune,” the team found a faulty transmission. Tim Stone of the Fire Truck team brought a transmission from Jacksonville; Tim and Sam and Gary Potter replaced the transmission finishing around midnight.

After about an hour of racing, during one off road excursion, the team discovered an oil pressure problem. After replacing the lost oil and changing drivers, the car went back out. After two laps the car was back with a knocking motor.

The team now had to remove the motor to repair the bad bearing. Parts stores around the track did not have the correct part so they engineered it by making up the clearance with tin foil. The team finished about 2 a.m. On Sunday, the car blew a water hose causing the engine to overheat. That was the end of the engine and the car was towed home running for only 29 laps.

“It wasn’t our weekend,” Potter said. “We spent many more hours working on the car than driving.”

Potter and team members Steve and Christopher Henkle drove the car. Sam Potter took Shepard’s turn to drive the fire truck in the race so everyone made the track.

“Sam had a blast and the weekend turned out well after all,” Gary Potter said.

Another lap around the track

The teams will race again.

The judges liked the way the John Galt car looked so the team will write the judges for a residual value on the car which should be $500 since the motor blew up, Gary Potter said. They will return in September to race again.

“Of course, there is no question on that,” said Gary Potter. “We towed it home; now we will see what we need to do to fix it.”

Shepard and team members Billy Taylor, David Shepard Jr., and Tim Stone plan to keep the fire truck theme with the addition of a bubble light on top for the September race. There is a kindred spirit among firemen so many of the firemen at the race came to see the fire truck after reading about it in this newspaper. One of the firemen that came, took Shepard’s address saying that he thinks that he has a bubble light from an old fire truck.

Mike Marshburn said “we are starting to rebuild to get ready for the next race in June. We are planning on a totally new car for the fall CMP race.”